The Journey, Not the Destination and “Never Go Back”

The Dominican Republic has three kinds of roads: paved and smooth, once paved but now potholed and, the third, thinkin’ ‘bout pavement. The first roads, double-lane and as nice or better than our highways back in the States, are toll roads, distanced every 50 kilometers or so, with three to five little manned (or womanned) booths with the motorized arms that block further access until the toll is paid. We kept the smaller DOP (Dominican Pesos) bills and change in the console of the car for the frequent stops and the fare averaged about one-hundred pesos ($2 USD) depending on the direction. Signs marking turnoffs and destinations were usually posted right at the turn to the desired road which resulted in the person with the best far-sighted vision playing spotter so that the driver could prepare his racing reflexes to make the correct turn. Many times, however, we saw the sign too late, sailed by the turn and would have to double back…

Our drive from our temporary home base in Punta Cana followed the shoreline west towards Santo Domingo and proceeded smoothly on the toll road. We turned onto the second kind of road, “the once paved but now potholed” per our directions and headed more or less northwest towards the toll road to the “Amber Coast,” so named because of the huge amber deposits found in the north coast area. The road lured us along unaware until … our teeth slammed together, our heads hit the roof of the car and our behinds thumped back into our seats. There were occasional grinding scrapes with the bottom of the car dragging as we crept from shallow hole to patched hole to gaping hole to speed bumps. And this was still a well-traveled secondary road in the DR!

However, there’s something to be said about leaving the toll highway and slowing down along the bad stretches of secondary road. We drove through small dusty villages seemingly out in the middle of nowhere scattered between farms and fields. Many appeared fairly “prosperous” by rural standards, cement homes alongside the road with people sitting on the front porches, flowering bushes and neatly tended dirt yards.

Further back off the road, houses were scattered between the trees with freshly washed laundry drying on fences or lines with surprisingly little litter to be seen. But other places were scarcely more than shanty towns with shacks of rusting walls and roofs of corrugated metal. We drove through groupings of sad and desperate hovels where the garbage, plastic bottles and trash had been mounded high alongside the dwellings that lined the road. We could not avoid seeing the scenes of bleak poverty and decay; people here and there sitting under whatever shade could protect them from the glaring relentless sun overhead.

We referred to this bumpy, rutted roadway as the “Cement Factory Road” for the one industry we saw upon that route and we made a decision to avoid it on our return trip. Eventually we hooked up with the major interior toll road of the DR and drove through countryside rich and lush, beautiful and picturesque: the properties of the wealthy. Living fences of small trees interspersed with wire or intricate walls of carefully piled stones mined from the rocky fields enclosed herds of grazing cows and great horned bulls, horses with foals, goats and kids and the occasional pig.

living fence

We passed farms of papaya, sugarcane, rice fields and plowed land with mounds of rocks scattered and dug out and cleared for future crops. Rolling hills, palm trees, beautifully shaped, canopied trees and trees topped with huge orange flowers were silhouetted against the blue sky, all contributing to the beauty of the setting.

Near the city of Nagua on the northern coast the road opened up to the brilliant and varying shades of blue sea along which we drove for miles watching both gentle waves lapping the seaweed strewn wild beaches and waves crashing into rocky shores of uplifted and long dead coral formations. Back again to the “once paved but now pot holed” roads we made our way through urban Nagua slowly; small businesses perched on the road edge behind parked cars on both sides that frequently necked the traffic down to one lane at time. Streets angled out of the narrow main road with more stores and houses, scooters wove their way through the inevitable traffic jams and, everywhere, drivers laid on their horns. It was your typical traffic bedlam.

We spent three days exploring the tourist attractions in the popular beach towns of Sosua and Cabarete and then embarked upon our homeward journey to Punta Cana. The map promised us a road that we hadn’t driven on the western side of Sosua which looked to be a feeder road to the major toll roads. Our selection may have been the correct route, but it turned out to be the third kind of road, the “thinkin’ ‘bout paving” variety. We jounced and bounced past small family farms and homes where people sat in the shade visiting with each other and (probably) commenting on the occasional idiot tourists with their cars scraping along the graveled, potholed, washboarded road. After about a mile of this abuse and surrounded by a cloud of dust we stopped for directions. Our elected guide was a grinning fellow, shirtless and washing his car with lackadaisical energy, swigging beer from a long neck bottle. He pointed down the rutted road and said about an hour more that way would take us to the toll road headed south, explaining that the road was bumpy and slow but that it was better to continue on and saying like a drunken mantra, “Never go back.” We mulled these dubious directions over and, after some discussion, decided to turn back anyway and take the known road. And as we passed him, our guide’s look was confused as he gestured again down the road and shouted,”But it’s that way. Never go back!”

I’m so glad I bumped into your blog. What fun reading… you two must be having a blast. I will continue to read, but I wonder if you’ve made a map of your travels? (a lot of work, I know) We are considering doing something similar, so I am leaning on my blogging friends for research! Perhaps I will find enough info just reading your great stories.

Thank you and we’re so glad that you’e enjoying our blog. We’ve started (and abandoned) a few maps of our travels through several states in Mexico, all of Central America and a few countries in South America as well as some of the Caribbean islands. Now that we’ve moved on to Europe we may have to make some time and map out our route. I think you’ve given us the needed incentive!

Maps are a favorite of mine. But, now that I’ve read several of your posts, I can plot some of your adventures. Now that ‘Stanley’ and I are seriously exploring a nomad-ish life ourselves, we really appreciate folks like you telling your stories!

We’ve said it several times but becoming nomadic retirees is one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Watch out though – a life of travel can be addicting! A lot of the fun is in the travel itself as well as the planning but writing about our experiences and sharing them with people like you who read our posts is great too!

So much of life is about how you reach your goals and/or destinations and, we think, is many times as interesting as where you end up! And you’re right, Carol, that forging ahead blindly is not always the wise choice!

We love the idea of the living fences and have seen them in several countries, especially in Central America. In many cases the branches are just stuck into the ground and then grow into and around the wire making for a very sturdy fence. We’ve also seen where the farmers have thinned and spaced the trees and the resulting fence is very pretty and much more picturesque than posts and wire!.

We saw some gorgeous amber jewelry, from small chips and beads to big chunks, in several Sosua and Cabarete shops that you might have liked. In many cases the amber was paired with the national stone of the Dominican Republic, Larimar, which is a pale blue and made for some beautiful contrasts as well as striking jewelry.

Would love to slow down and do these road trips especially along the shoreline even with the potholes. On the other hand traffic jams on busy corridors are horror stories even with gorgeous shoreline views.

Slowing down and enjoying the journey has been one of the best things about both retirement and travel. But, traffic jams – there’s just no way to make that a pleasant experience even with the best scenery!

I enjoyed taking this journey with you, from the comfort of my home without the physical bumps of the road. I’ve spent time in Sousa and Cabarete and have once travelled from there to Punta Cana by bus, but we did not wind up on the rough roads you’ve described. “Never go back” could get you into some tough situaions, I think.

We’re happy that you enjoyed this trip down memory lane and on a smooth road too! Both highways and secondary roads have their uses for taking us where we want to go but, as you said, sometimes backtracking is not a bad idea…

I remember memorizing Frost’s poem back in high school because I thought it was so profound and, when I went back to re-read it today I found it to be just as wise. It seems to still be true that the less traveled roads are almost always more interesting! Anita

Sometimes backtracking is necessary and the key is deciding when… The DR had some places that were absolutely beautiful but you’re right – there’s a dissonance in living in abject poverty while being surrounded by such beauty.

Sounds a lot like Nicaragua to us too! Although I seem to remember that the conveyances varied from scooters with multiple passengers including babies to horses and oxen pulling carts. So much more colorful!